DUBAI (REUTERS) - Abu Dhabi's delayed new airport terminal is 86 per cent complete and on course to open by the fourth quarter of 2019, the airport operator's chairman said on Sunday (Oct 29).

Local media reported in March the opening of the 10.8 billion dirham (S$4.01 billion) Midfield Terminal at Abu Dhabi International had been pushed back two years to 2019, but did not say by which quarter it would open.

The terminal was scheduled to open in July this year.

"We have completed 86 per cent of the construction in this project, despite the challenges and difficulties," Mr Awaidah Murshed al-Marrar said.

A consortium of Turkey's TAV Insaat , Athens-based Consolidated Contractors Company, and Dubai's Arabtec are building the terminal.

Etihad Airways is based at the airport and is expected to move to the Midfield Terminal.

The 742,000 sq m terminal building will increase the airport's capacity to 45 million passengers a year. The airport handled 24.5 million passengers in 2016.